NEAR SEBASTOPOL, CALIFORNIA -- Maybe it's appropriate I'm writing this on Halloween eve as my experience with Sprint has been nightmarish. It began three years ago in St. Joseph, MO when Sprint ran an ad in the local newspaper offering a phone with 1400 anytime minutes for about $40. I stopped by the local Sprint PCS store, signed a 2 yr. contract, and walked out with my shiny new "free" phone. As I signed, I was told that unless the phone was used within county boundaries, roaming charges would apply (the so-called "Alamo" plan). No problem - I seldom traveled outside the county.

In April 2006, I traveled to Oregon & California to visit relatives and ran up a large roaming expense and paid it without complaint. In May 2006, I decided to relocate to the Portland, OR area and in June stopped by the Sprint store in Oregon, OR, a Portland suburb. I asked to change my plan and was handed a new two year contract to sign. Reluctantly, I did, and now had 1000 anytime minutes (400 less than the old plan) with no roaming for about $65 a month. I was having problems with the phone keeping a charge and asked if a new free phone was available and was told the only ones they had would cost me starting at around $35.

I declined and asked about buying a replacement battery for the Samsung unit and was told they cost $60 (available now after market for $1 plus shipping). I declined that offer too and left with my new 2-yr. contract and old phone still with a MO area code. A month later a job offer took me to California and until the construction project ended last November. I kept my phone religiously on the charger and managed to get by OK. Afterwards, I relocated to Green Valley Road in rural Sonoma County 60 miles north of San Francisco and discovered to my dismay that cell phone reception was nil. No cell phone companies have towers nearby.

I stopped by the local Sprint store in Cotati, CA for help and was nearly chased to my car by the sales rep urging me to sign a new 2 yr. contract without resolving the problem. I was also told the same $60 replacement battery story except they would have to order one. My residence is in a valley topped by 600 ft. hills and it was impossible to call out or receive calls. I could get minimal reception by climbing atop one of the 600 ft. hills and dubbed one tree up there "the cell phone tree" as it was the only spot near my home I could usually call out. (I'm 56 yrs. old and climbing the steep hill takes nearly 30 mins.requiring a major physical effort.)

I could also drive 12 miles into Sebastopol and make calls there, which I sometimes did. After missing too many important calls (which negatively impacted my livelihood) and using only about 10% of my monthly minutes, I decided enough was enough. I would terminate my Sprint account and get an AT&T landline.

On October 8, 2007 I tried to contact via internet (Hughes Satellite) the Sprint customer service site but gave up after several attempts and receiving a "technical problems" message at the Sprint website. The following day, a neighbor was kind enough to let me borrow his landline phone and I got through to customer service.

The C/S rep first suggested I change to a reduced minutes plan, then suggested I might SELL my account to someone else. (WHAT, am I supposed to be a salesman for Sprint!?) She also suggested Sprint maps showed I should have reception and I asked her to call me right then to verify my non-reception (I had my cell phone with me). She said she couldn't.

I told her I disagreed being charged an early termination fee but needed to terminate my service immediately as I had ordered an AT&T landline. She said she would have to transfer me to finalize my request and suddenly I got disconnected. I had waited nearly an hour going through all of the phone prompts, music on hold, and didn't want to abuse my neighbor's courtesy. I typed an urgent request letter that afternoon and mailed it by certified mail the next day. A Sprint employee, **, signed for it on Oct. 15th.

Two weeks have passed without a response. A new Sprint bill arrives in the mail yesterday, so here we go again. I finally have a landline phone and called customer service today. I first get an outsourced call center and speak to someone with an Indian accent. He transfers me to another location and I talk to **, a cust. service rep. I hurriedly go through the details, give my last four social security digits, and ** says she will take care of my request. Success at last? NO... ** says I will still owe a $150 early termination fee plus another month's service bill which will be at the end of the next billing cycle ending Nov. 21st, I believe.

She said she could not terminate my service immediately as I requested because the billing system would not process the service termination request until the end of the monthly billing cycle. Neat huh? So, I'm going to be charged for TWO months of NO service ($130) and get a farewell gift charge from Sprint for another $150! By this time I was highly upset and asked to speak to her supervisor. She said OK, but the facts will remain the same. At this point I no longer cared about anything except getting this ordeal over with. She said I could fax her my electric utility bill and she would review it with her supervisor. (I did fax it, but what difference will that make?)

These are the true facts to the best of my knowledge and I'm prepared to testify to their veracity under oath in a court of law, if required. In my 56 years, I've never dealt with a company like Sprint and honestly hope I never will again. My blood pressure must be off the scale today and I feel physically ill. Living in the boonies does have one advantage - no trick or treaters tonight, unless Sprint again ignores my service termination request. I feel like I've got a leech attached to my wallet.

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Data Charges.........Never used data!!!

By Tbird1 - 07/07/2009

I have been a Sprint customer for 10+yrs and have never had a problem until recently. I added 2 lines to my existing account in Dec. of 2008. 2 weeks before Xmas to be exact. Upgraded to everything family messaging. One a gift for my son. Phone was in the box in my dresser drawer not being used. Happened to get online to check my account & noticed that phone # was being charged data charges. Called Sprint explained situation to them basically told me I was lying but eventually removed charges. In May of 2009 I reduced my minutes from 3000 to 1500 shared.

Got my bill for last month & I am being charged $50.00 in data for the 3 phones. I was stunned!!! Went on line to check this upcoming bill & again am being charged for data. Called customer service was told they are showing that I have used Vision data and that they have proof of this. I asked how could this be when I have done nothing different with my phone in regards to sending or receiving pics. have never accessed the internet because I do not have that for my plan.

Basically called me a liar & told me there was nothing he could do, asked to talk to a supervisor. Was put on hold for 25 minutes or longer. Supervisor basically said the same to me. I explained to him that I have been a loyal customer for 10+yrs & if I had made these data charges I would gladly pay for them as I did a few years ago but since I did not I feel that I shouldn't have to pay for them. Said there was nothing he could do for me that I had to go to a Sprint store & have them run a diagnostic test on phones & if it comes back that phones are at fault not us then store has to call them & the will credit my account.

I then said it seems awful strange & fishy to me that as soon as I lowered my minutes so I could lower my payment that all of a sudden I am being charged for data usage to bring it right back up to the same payment amount as I HAD WITH 3000 min. Oh & the data charges for this month has gone up $3.50 overnight while we were sleeping but they have proof that we are using vision data. If this problem doesn't get resolved, as soon as my contract is up I will go with another carrier.

Also buyer beware if the salesman tells you if you go with the everything messaging plan & you can send & receive pic mail don't believe him you can but only certain pics. Can't send them unless you save them into media then send. If you don't you get charged!!! So if you're thinking about going with Sprint DON'T!!!

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Bad Customer Service

By jclemens - 01/09/2006

ILLINOIS -- My fiance had Sprint service for two years. When we moved to another state, he contacted Sprint. We wanted to be sure that we could add free roaming to the account since we would not yet be changing the number. When he spoke to the CSR he explained that he needed to add free roaming to the account and he was told this was a 10$ charge. She agreed that YES this could be done and YES it was only a ten dollar charge. She said she charged the account and it was "all taken care of". You can imagine our surprise when we see an enormous bill the next month on our bank statement. (He had automatic withdrawal).

He contacted Sprint. He asked for his bill to be reimbursed since he was told that we would have free roaming. The CSR told us that there were no notes on the account that he even made the call. She said that not only is free roaming not 10$ but it is also not even an option! Why would the first CSR tell us that it was a 10 option and it was all taken care of? So the CSR told us that we would need to speak to a manager. But the manager was busy and she did not know how long we would be put on hold. So she explained that the Manager would call us back. Two days later.. no call.

He called Sprint again. And again had to explain the situation to another CSR, because there were no notes on the account of the first call. She kept putting him on hold and asking a manager what to do then she would come back and try to sell us a package that included lower roaming charges. After 40 minutes of going back and forth that we do not want another plan, we just was our money reimbursed she put us through to an assistant manager. The asst mgr told us that he could reimburse the money but that we would need to sign up for another 2 year contract. We told him that we did not want to sign up for another two year contract.

We wanted our money back for the charges and the account closed. He was very impatient and rude. He told us that he would reimburse it still, but he would need to call us back. We asked for his name but apparently, he can't give us that information. He also said that they do not give case numbers. He said that he would call back in two hours. Two DAYS later.. no call. We called back and again had to deal with explaining our situation. And again the CSR kept trying to sell us another plan. We were transferred several times and each time needed to re-explain our dilemma. Finally, we spoke to someone who said they would reimburse our bill, and close our account.

The next month we realized that our bill was not reimbursed it was simply deducted from the next bill, which included calls that were made from before we became aware of the roaming charges. And there was a .50 cent balance. AGAIN we had to call Sprint and explain the situation. The CSR told us that she would wipe the .50 cent balance and there were no more charges. The next month, we get yet another bill for almost 12.00$. This was the .50 cent balance and taxes and standard charges. We tried to call but since our old cell phone number no longer worked we could not get through to a live operator.

Every time we would call it would ask us to put in our Sprint phone number. We tried to go online but could not even find an email address for customer service. We finally got through after being transferred 5 times. After we explained our story to friends and family, it seemed everyone had a BAD sprint CSR story. I can't believe that a company this renown could handle Customer Service so poorly. We have wiped our hands free of Sprint and will never use their services again. I know now that it is worth the extra money to pay for excellent customer service.

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Stay Away From Sprint Pcs!!!

By Kenneth - 01/30/2013

Rating: 1/51

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA -- I have been in Sonoma since 1988, and have used Sprint since 1992. The service now is slow, unreliable and intermittent for both Broadband and cellphone usage. Sprint has basically oversold the product and totally lacks capacity to handle the volume, and therefore the product is useless!

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I Emailed The BBB On A Sunday At 5pm And Got A Call At 9am The Next Morning

By dc1978 - 04/18/2009

For some reason sprint was not taking my payment out of my bank account. I did not notice until my service was disconnected for non payment. I called them and the representative said my service could not be restored unless I pay the early termination fee right then, and then a deposit of 50 dollars. She assured me I would get the 200 early termination fee refunded within six weeks. I agreed and my new account was started. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was on the phone for a total of 5 hours with 4 different people because every time I was transferred to a new department, they would hang up on me!

I would call back and have to explain my situation all over again the next Indian that answered. Anyway, 8 weeks came and went with no refund, so I called them and spent another hour on the phone only to be told that I was never told that and it was impossible to return my money and they didn't know why the representative told me that because it was not in the account notes.

I asked if it was on the recording of the calls and they said there was no way for them to access specific conversations with the way there system was set up. I was so frustrated that I emailed the BBB on a Sunday night and by 9 am the next morning a supervisor called and said she reviewed my account and would be sending me a refund within 10 days. I recommend threatening them with the BBB if all else fails. My refund arrived 10 days later.

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Sprint Call Centers Are Full Of Sweethearts

By DRKELSO - 04/29/2008

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO -- So I stopped receiving signal on my trusty sprint phone (more or less because it is an outdated piece of junk). So I remembered last time I was in Radio Shack they stated I would be eligible for my upgrade for a new phone in July. So the phone stops working toward the end of April and I'm left paying a bill for service I cannot receive. So I go into the sprint store thinking that I can get set up with a new phone. Wrong. They charge 250.00 for the brand new phone I want and I'm only eligible for 75 dollars off. But in 2 or so months id be eligible for 150 dollars off.

I wanted them to waive the two month waiting period considering customer service and common sense would lead me to believe it wouldn't be a big deal. WRONG!! Their rep at the store (she was nice enough and very helpful) informed me she had her hands tied. So I have to call this customer service phone # from the crappy sprint phone attached to the counter by an annoying retractable cord. The first guy I spoke to was very slow at speech and acted like he was able to help me. He then said I was already eligible for the promotion and acted shocked that the store representative told me differently.

He proceeded to ask me the mailing address so he could send me my new phone. I declined being that they already had the phone I wanted at the sprint store. I asked the sales rep if he worked off of commission (being a sales person simply out of respect I would let him mail me the phone if he got a credit). He answered no simply (lie!) and when I then asked "can I get the sprint store rep so you can convey I'm already eligible for the $150 upgrade offer rather than the $75 offer?", he answered "Yes, I can do that for you," in a shaky tone.

I went to go find the Sprint store rep who had disappeared into the back. I then had to wait several minutes for one of the other reps to page and id have to wait for her to come back. While waiting I went back to the phone only to discover he had hung up. I was pretty much livid at this point. So I dialed again and the girl I reached basically said that she was unable to waive the 2 month waiting period but she would see what she could do to get me into a new phone. I immediately tired of having to tell my story over and over again politely made it clear I was going to cancel my service and get a better deal through a different phone company.

Rather than telling me I was a valued customer she immediately got an attitude with me and said "sir I was going to see what I could do you but... YEAH Id be more than happy to transfer you to cancellations". I stopped her not wanting to have to go through this whole painful story again and said "You didn't give me that impression" To which she replied "I was going to help you but you want to disconnect".

I then wanting to get it done and over with told her to mail me the phone. "I need to charge your credit card $200.84 for the price of the phone and I will credit $75 back to your account". I simply accepted the charges and disconnected the call. It's been a day and I saw the charge for the phone online, however I have yet to see the $100 that was to be credited. Shame on you sprint for not enforcing policies that prevent me from being crapped on by their overworked and probably underpaid employees.

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Sprint $50 / $60 month Cell Phone Plans are a Lie!!

By planosam - 01/04/2008

TEXAS -- For several years, I have had a sprint cell phone. Though half my calls end up disconnecting on me due to 'signal failed', I kept the service because Sprint customer service reps kept promising me that a new antenna was 'imminent' in my area.. been waiting two years for that 'imminent antenna'. Anyway, 3 months ago my son learned he needed to move from Dallas to Lubbock, so I added a phone for him to my account. The plan was for $60 a month.. Seemed straight forward.. cut and dried.. Would just cost me an extra 60 bucks a month.. Then the nightmare began.. The first bill came. It was over $700!!!

They said all kinds of charges were tacked on.. none of them related to 'exceeding the number of minutes allowed'.. but a lot of it having to do with a slew of calls to and from California. We don't even know anyone in California!! My son used to sale cell phones. Fortunately he went through numerous customer service reps, spent literally 10 to 15 hours tracking through hundreds of charges line by line and finally got the bill down to a more reasonable rate.. still way more than we'd agreed to on the $60 plan but he was just worn down.

Sprint promised that they'd take care of the billing problems and the next bill would reflect the $60 a month plan that we'd signed up for.. Wrong. The next bill was nearly $1,000!!! Again, numerous calls to California and places we knew no one. It was bizarre.. Plus, on the $60 a month plan.. why were they charging me for a lot of this stuff anyway? Again, dozens of hours were spent tracking through the mess line by line and promises were made to fix the billing. My son thinks his phone information has been cloned (form of ID theft) and this is contributing to the problem. Sprint says this never happens. My son says sure it does all the time.

Then, the latest bill came out. You guessed it.. over a $1,000 this time. So, once again my son has started to fight with customer service reps. We've had it. We're ready to just kill the service to both phones now.. But they want to charge a $250 disconnect fee to terminate each phone. Plus, they don't want to talk to my son anymore because he 'raised his voice at them' and lest I forget.. They say we owe them the +$1,000. So much for my $60 a month plan. In every instance, we've encountered customer service reps who claimed their hands were tied. The bill was correct. We owed the money even though our plan was for $60 a month.

Then got passed to the next rep to hear it again or get a few dollars shaved off and then passed to the next rep. I don't want to take the ding on my credit, but am at a point where their indifference and unwillingness to honor my $60 a month agreement.. is wearing me down. Their service is and has been crappy to begin with. I suspect these weird bills have something to do with my son's original phone activation occurring in Dallas Texas and his residency now being in Lubbuck.. every call he makes is perceived to be 'out of region'.. or visiting rather than home. All I know is this.. If I can save one family from this hell, my work here is done.

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Yet another Sprint issue

By AJR - 08/12/2007

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- I have been a Sprint PCS customer for over 5 years. I have finally had it. In the past, they have made grave errors in billing, (for instance: creating a second account where the payments would post but no service was going so it would look like I was late on my bill.) If I were to list all of the negative about the accounts I would crash this server. However, recent events have made me consider legal action. Recently, my fiance (a black man) went into a Sprint store for a replacement phone (a plan we have paid for monthly and needed to use because of Sprint's unreliable phones) and was told that he would have to go to another store since there was no technician to help him there.

Mind you- this was actually the 2nd store we had been to because the first one told us the same thing and directed us to this second location. On the way to this second store, he had experienced a problem with his car. Not an issue normally- he could just call someone to help him on his cell phone. But since Sprint wanted to play games with the "service" they were supposed to be providing- he had no cell phone. To further the issue, he is an amputee who has recently had a surgery so he is using a wheelchair to get around. When he finally made it to the store and got this news, he wasn't happy. His focus, however, was to call someone to come and help him with his car.

He asked if he could use a phone and was told "no". MY CELL PHONE COMPANY WOULDN'T LET HIM USE THE PHONE. A PHONE WE WOULD HAVE HAD IF THEY HADN'T ** UP IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! Then, under her breath, the woman with the title "manager" on her nametag uttered **. This happened on July 13th in Phoenix, AZ. The temperature was approx 120. He was forced to wheel across the street to a gym to use the phone.

What is ironic about this new low to Sprint service is that I had already contacted the Better Business Bureau about yet another billing error that was their fault. They were USELESS and then told me they would follow up on this latest complaint and get back to me. Of course, that never happened. As usual. The name of the person I spoke to (in regards to the Better Business Bureau complaint) was **. His phone number is **. Now, anytime I would call, he would mysteriously be "busy". However, if I said I would wait for someone else in his department I would shockingly get to speak to him.

I told him that at this point I just wanted my service turned off- without fee. Of course he refused (another stellar Sprint employee). When I asked to speak with his supervisor, I was told "he speaks for the president of Sprint PCS". My new mission is to spread the word. I will make this the longest, most time consuming battle of all time. I encourage ANY OF YOU to call him directly and often. And please, tell him I sent you. I am trying to earn my "golden ticket"- you know. The letter Sprint sends to its customers who "complain too much". Thanks for your time!!

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Dishonest and unethical service

By sg_pdx - 06/10/2007

PORTLAND, OREGON -- In December of 2004 I purchased two phones and signed a contract with Sprint. In late 2006, I went to a Sprint store with a broken phone, and to ask when my contract would be up, because Sprint service did not work in the building to which my group at work had recently moved. The salesperson explained that it was just due to my phone being old, and that a new phone with new software would work just fine. I was dubious, but agreed to try another phone under two conditions:

1) I would be able to return the phone if it did not work (YES - as long as I did so within 30 days), and -

2). If I returned the phone, any contract change would also be backed out, returning me to the original contract period to which I had consented (YES).

Well, the phone didn't work, and after some research, I learned that because of some of the development work done at our site, the only providers that did work in that building were ones who the company had asked to place infrastructure on-campus. Two providers do work; neither of which are Sprint.

So I took the phone back, and then spent hours with a rep who didn't want to revert my contract back, who tried to sell me yet another phone, who didn't want to get a refurbished phone to replace my broken one (despite me paying for that insurance coverage). She called into their main office, and after much hassle with her computer, she did revert everything back. I specifically asked if that meant that as of 12/16/2006, I would be on month-to-month service, and she said yes. So - I've been telecommuting much of the time for the past six months, and telling my son's school to not try my cellphone, just my desk, on the rare days I'm at work.

I now need to be heading back to the office and will be at my desk less frequently. I called Sprint today to see what the process would be for cancelling one phone off the service while leaving the other one on. (We've not been dissatisfied with Sprint generally - well, not 'til now.) First rep - no help at all. He kept asking for my zip code, because he wanted to prove to me (from wherever he is, thousands of miles away) that my cellphone truly does work in my building.

So he escalated the call to a gentleman named **, who proceeded to claim that I had accepted a contract change, and was stuck with it, no matter what. No escalation elsewhere, no actual offer to resolve the situation, other than to state that he'd be willing to reduce the contract rate to get me to stay with Sprint, and then I could get a second cellphone to have one that works in the building in which I'll be working full-time starting in two weeks.

Under no circumstances whatsoever would my early termination fee be waived, because under no circumstances whatsoever was he willing to understand that SPRINT PERSONNEL HAD LIED - that I had not spent the time and effort to do all of this just to have the contract put back in place for two more years. The whole point was to switch plans, switch companies, and get a phone that works. Instead, I'm stuck with this lump that doesn't work in the building where I do, and with a company that has lost my business forever. (Changing our home long distance off Sprint, too.)

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Beware of Sprint: 2 stories

By PTO6 - 01/08/2007

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN -- My dislike of Sprint started Christmas 2005 when I wanted to get my spouse a new phone. I checked our account online AND spoke with a customer service person on the phone to see what type of incentive we might be eligible for. I was assured that he was eligible for up to 200.00 off of a new phone since it had been 3.5 years since he had a new one. (take note - already a customer for 3.5+ years). I made my purchase and sent in the rebate forms, and received no rebate. I tried getting help in the various Sprint stores, but no one in these stores seemed to have any knowledge.

They could sell me a phone or sell me a plan, but other than that, they played dumb and told me I would have to call Sprint myself. I then found out that he was ineligible for a rebate UNLESS he added another 2 years to our agreement, there was nothing they could do and too bad. The fact that they compensated him NOTHING at the last renewal was irrelevant. "Too bad. Would you like to buy another phone now and renew for another 2 years?".

I was livid. I vowed to just ride out the plan and cancel when it was done. Their plans are too expensive anyway. The Sprint to Sprint "free" calls are not free. In this part of the country (Southeast Michigan) we have to pay ten dollars a month for that service. Everything is an extra charge. Note: their website NOW spells out that all rebates are subject to a 2 year renewal. Obviously I wasn't the only one who got hosed by them.

Toward the end of our contract, I started getting phone calls from the customer service people on my cell. When I answered the phone, to my surprise, it was not someone trying to sell me another plan, it was their customer service people asking to speak to ** (someone that I work with). I told them they have the wrong number and they hung up, no apology, no nothing. I then started getting up to 4 calls a day on my messages looking for this other person. I asked that person what was the deal, and they said that they were behind a month on their bill and Sprint had been calling everyone that they had ever called looking for them.

I must note that these were our personal cell phones, not ones issued by our job or anything. Sprint had no idea if I was a friend, relative, coworker, boss, enemy, or the local pizza joint. I finally yelled at this person who barely spoke English to quit harassing me. This was NOT their (**) phone, NOT their address, NOT their family, NOT anyone responsible for their bills, QUIT bothering me. How DARE you interrupt me 4 times a day with this nonsense. They hung up and the calls stopped for 2 days and then started up again. Lucky for me my contract has just expired and I have cancelled them. The story is not over yet. I am currently waiting for my final bill and keeping my fingers crossed.